Nrub'atocto Trapped Below the Surface

Some new artwork to go with the previous Nrub'atocto - She Who Feeds storyline showing the entity still trapped below ground.

Affinity Photo Workflow: A few image prompts using Bing DALL-E to help create monsters and portions of the cave.  Masked in the supporting creatures (corners) and fallen stones from public-source other images.  Merged in vapor clouds, edge wraps, and parchment text story all within Affinity Photo.

Hi-rez image link [3000px tall]

and here is another quick image

The Ashes of Cthulhu

Cthulhu rises from the blood-soaked river and approaches those who mistakenly summoned him.

Affinity Workflow: A couple Meta AI Image prompts until I found two creatures I could combine (body + wings).  Water was textured then HSL adjusted to look like blood, mist effects, streaks, ashes added within Affinity.

Hi-rez image link [2727px tall]

Thóthchånge Awakens

A small group of science-based cultists, devoted to the worship of a primordial leviathan, have devised a plan to unleash their god Thóthchånge from his prison beneath the lunar surface. They have uncovered a Stonehenge-like formation located only a few kilometers from Apollo 15's original landing site near Mare Imbrium. They intend to use the arcane stones as a casting circle and perform a dark ritual during a solar eclipse when the Moon is aligned with the Sun and the Earth. They hope that by doing so, they will create a rift in the deep regolith, and awaken Thóthchånge from his slumber who will reward them with dark enigmatical powers. However, their slumbering leviathan does not grant rewards, it lives only to consume... **everything**.

Affinity Photo Workflow: A few image prompts using Bing DALL-E, and Nightcafe ImageAI to get me four different monsters to chop, crop, and combine during my photo-surgery.  Some real images of the moon from NASA and other sections of the moon were generated with AI and merged/blended.   Dust clouds, creature glow, energy maw, and particles are added in Affinity Photo.  Eyeballs created using Filter Forge were added to the creature.  Stone circles were pulled from images and masked in, with casting runes embossed on them.

Hi-rez image link [5041px wide]

Nrub'atocto - She Who Feeds

"Nrub'atocto - She Who Feeds" --- In the lightless caverns deep below the earth slumbers the ancient daemon Nrub'atocto. Interred in a nameless crypt, she has lain dormant for 917 years, her presence seeping into the rock, soil, and underground streams. When the slow work of subterranean rivers and trembling earth finally cracks open her tomb, Nrub'atocto awakens, ravenous from her long fast. With screeching howls and shattering chirps that echo through the buried passages, she wiggles and claws her way to the surface world that she has not seen for nearly a millennium. Any remote villages or towns built over her restless resting place soon hear baleful chanting from below as Nrub'atocto singly emerges. She brings a wave of maddening, dream-like visions of an alien realm that shake the sanity of all those who fall beneath the pulsing rays produced by her radiant eyes. Nrub'atocto appears as a grotesque hybrid of octopus and female humanoid, her pale pink flesh drooping with decay yet animated with an unnatural hunger. She breaks the surface, pushed forward by numerous powerful tentacles, exposing her two sharp-clawed hands, and screeches from a near bottomless fangless maw, releasing the foulest of odors with each fetid breath. Though she can devour victims physically, Nrub'atocto prefers to drain their life essences psychically, leaving behind desiccated corpses and wildly muttering lunatics doomed to perish shortly after. When Nrub'atocto has fed to her fill and the last haggard humans flee or fall to her mental assaults, she retracts through the deepest tunnels and crevices. Finding another hidden niche in the buried earth to make her lair, Nrub'atocto surrounds herself in a cocoon excreted from her writhing, slug-like lower body, once more sinking into dormancy where she silently feeds on the residual terror left behind.

Affinity Photo Workflow: A dozen image prompts using Bing DALL-E, and Nightcafe ImageAI to generate bits & pieces I wanted to chop up and then combine into new photos.  Combined separate monster heads onto octopus-like body parts, the church was taken from an old painting scan I found, most of the graveyard pieces scanned from a comic book, used a couple Filter Forge tricks to sync look-and-feel, a bunch of manual edits, a lot of clones, brushwork on the radiant eye beams, and tons of masking.

Hi-rez image link [2546px wide]

Lovecraft Murals at the Lincoln Nebraska Post Office

Finally, after 8 days of dealing with multiple contractors, my murals are finished in Lincoln Nebraska at the local post office, right next to the Pinnacle Bank Arena at the intersection of Canopy & R Street.  I can't wait for my series of Lovecraft-themed postage stamps to start shipping next month.

Hi-rez image link [3072px wide] and direct link to my postage stamps.

UFO Sandblasting the Arizona Desert

Image captured of a UFO probing the Arizona desert floor with modulating plasma beams during some late-night experimentation.   There are some surveillance cube-shaped drones flying a perimeter loop around the spacecraft during the operation.   Composited from a few Meta AI Imagine prompts (for inspiration), grabbed a bunch of skyline+desert+UFO image searches, and then combined it all with additional Fx work inside Affinity Photo.

Hi-rez image link [2600px wide]

Huitzilopochtli watches as Tenochtitlan burns

Huītzilōpōchtli (Huitzilopochtli) watches as his worshippers' city of Tenochtitlan burns under Spanish attack in 1521. I've taken six different Meta Imagine AI-generated source images from my various prompts, then worked on chopping and mixing various components into my final scene of the downfall of yet another Aztec city.

Hi-rez widescreen image link [4370px wide]

I'm Bobblehead Batman!

This image of Batman wearing his dayglow graffiti camouflage gear was created from a pile of various art splashes, Batman heads, and Batman bodies with Meta AI Image + NightCafe then pulled them all into Affinity Photo to Frankenstein them into the final product.

Hi-rez image link.

I'M Bobblehead BATMAN!

Buffalo Bump TV Series coming soon to Paramount+

Short Brief: Buffalo Bump is an upcoming drama series on Paramount+ that follows Evelyn Harper, a pregnant woman wandering the rugged wilderness of Wyoming on the back of a majestic buffalo. Bound to the buffalo and the land mystically, Evelyn grapples with her past and uncertain future as she encounters various characters that help unravel her destiny. She develops a special connection to fur trader Mason, a nomadic Cherokee tribesman, and weathered cowboy Raúl. With each revelation about her past, Evelyn journeys closer to her purpose as the series explores themes of adventure, magic, and raw emotion against the backdrop of Wyoming’s untamed beauty. Evelyn must unlock the ancient wisdom of the buffalo and discover her fated path, all while protecting the life growing inside her. Buffalo Bump promises high drama and mysticism, showcasing the power of the natural landscape.

Press Summary: In the vast expanse of Wyoming’s untamed wilderness, where the prairies stretch out like an endless canvas, a remarkable tale unfolds. Meet Evelyn Harper, a pregnant woman with a spirit as wild as the land she roams. “Buffalo Bump” follows Evelyn’s extraordinary journey—a journey that defies convention and transcends boundaries. She rides atop a majestic buffalo, her loyal companion and protector. The rhythmic sway of the buffalo’s massive shoulders cradles her swollen belly, and together, they traverse the rugged terrain.

As Evelyn wanders the plains, she grapples with her past, her uncertain future, and the life growing within her. Her connection to the buffalo is more than mere companionship; it’s a mystical bond that whispers secrets of the land, secrets only those who truly listen can hear. But Wyoming is not just a backdrop—it’s a character in its own right. The windswept grasslands harbor ancient mysteries, and the snow-capped peaks guard forgotten legends. As Evelyn encounters enigmatic figures—Mason, a reclusive mountain fur trader, a nomadic Cherokee tribesman, and Raúl, a weathered cowboy—she unravels the threads of destiny that bind her to this rugged land.

“Buffalo Bump” weaves together elements of adventure, magic, and raw human emotion. Each episode reveals a new layer of Evelyn’s past, a revelation that propels her forward, closer to her purpose. Amidst the whispering pines and rolling hills, she grapples with love, loss, and the primal instinct to protect her unborn child. Will Evelyn find solace in the vastness of Wyoming? Can she unlock the buffalo’s ancient wisdom and discover her true path? And what role does her unborn child play in the unfolding drama of the plains?

Tune in to “Buffalo Bump”, where the heartbeat of the land echoes in every hoofbeat, and where a pregnant woman’s courage knows no bounds. The wilderness awaits, and Evelyn’s journey is just beginning.  

[ This is my imaginary pitch to TV execs if you haven't quite figured that out yet... I am pretty sure Tyler Sheridan would love to work with me on this project. ]

Alternate List of TV Series Names:

• Cradled by the Wild
• Mystic Plains
• Prairie Wanderer
• Riding the Whispers
• Spirit of the Plains
• Where the Grass Grows
• Wild Heart
• Winding Trails

Taglines for this TV Series:

• "A mystical journey across the wild frontier."
• "Where the wisdom of the land leads the way."
• "Carried by fate. Guided by spirit."
• "The untamed heart beats with adventure."
• "Roam free on the wings of destiny."
• "Let the rhythm of the wild lead you home."
• "An epic tale as vast as the Wyoming skies."
• "Magic awakens in the heart of the plains."
• "Discover the secrets whispered on the prairie winds."
• "A woman, a buffalo, and the call of the open range."

Hi-rez super widescreen image link which I created using a combination of NightCafe, Meta Imagine AI, and my own composite edits and merges using Affinity Photo.

Buffalo Bump TV Series coming soon to Paramount+

Evelyn Harper

Raúl, cowboy

Mason, mountain fur trader

Cthulu Greets His Worshippers

"Cthulu Greets His Worshippers" is another H.P. Lovecraft-inspired image, originally started with a prompted Nightcafe AI Image, and then I did a bunch of hand edits and tweaks within Affinity Photo.

Hi-rez image link.

Clash of the Jurassic Cthulhus

"Two large Lovecraftian leviathans emerge from the depths of the ocean to battle in front of a soon-to-be-doomed coastal city. " --- I spent a little time trying out the NightCafe AI image generator over the last week. I went through 8-10 variations of my generating prompts, then pulled 4 of the best images down to my PC. Composite work included manual edits, new brush textures, and other tweaks to fit them into a single widescreen image within Affinity Photo.

NightCafe source link, or Hi-rez image link.

Batman Vampire

Batman as a vampire, 'nuff said.    A bit of tracing and composite work from some other images, then altered quite a bit to fit this image theme.   I think the image I used for distorting into point teeth came out decent.

Hi-rez image link.

Dua Lipa Polaroid photos

Just some simple layer work, featuring Dua Lipa, while playing with Affinity Photo template-type design setup on my end.  Created multiple editing layers so that I can inject new photographs onto the Polaroid layout for future experiments.  

Hi-rez image link.

Liliatha, our youngest redheaded witch is levitating in her living room.

 I started with a Bing Image Creator (DALL-E 3) prompt "a picture of a red-headed woman 30 years old bouncing on a pogo stick" then brought that into Affinity and started working on some minor tweaks, edits, and tried to weed out some of the artificial look.   I'm titling this "Liliatha, our youngest redheaded witch is levitating in her living room." 

Hi-rez image link.

Batman Wants to Put You In a Coma

Eduardo Barreto had a nice panel in DC Comics' Batman - Gotham by Gaslight, which I pulled out, isolated, and then did a few edits and added fresh dialogue "Why don't I help you slip into something more comfortable... like a coma."

Hi-rez image link.

Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)

Text overlay and masking playtime while compositing a clean Batgirl image, originally drawn by Bruce Timm. Hi-rez link.

The Joker meets Johnny Dangerously

I yanked a single panel from The Batman and Robin Adventures #5 and created my own improved word "It shoots through schools" word balloons to match the scene better, an homage to Johnny Dangerously. The original art panel before my alteration was drawn by Tim Harkins & Rick Burchett. Hi-rez link.

Robin (Dick Grayson)

More text overlay and masking playtime while compositing a clean Robin image, originally drawn by Bruce Timm. Hi-rez link.

Darkseid Trading Card (#1 in the DC Villains card set)

I took the altered Jason Fabok Darkseid image from last week and used it to create trading card #1 for the DC Villains series.  Hi-rez image link for your zooming pleasure.

Clayface Trading Card (#31 in the DC Villains card set)

I've composed Clayface (Basil Karlo) to create trading card #31 for the DC Villains series.  Hi-rez image link for your zooming pleasure.